CHANEY DOUGLAS DALE

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Name: 1LT Douglas Dale Chaney
Status: Killed In Action from an incident on 07/23/1968 while performing the duty of Pilot.
Age at death: 23.4
Date of Birth: 02/17/1945
Home City: Redondo Beach, CA
Service: EN branch of the reserve component of the U.S. Army.
Unit: A/3/17 CAV
Major organization: 1st Aviation Brigade
Flight class: 68-2
Service: EN branch of the U.S. Army.
The Wall location: 51W-038
Short Summary: Small arms fire.
Aircraft: OH-6A tail number 65-12985
Call sign: SILVER SPUR
Service number: O5253032
Country: South Vietnam
MOS: 6104
Primary cause: Hostile Fire
Major attributing cause: aircraft connected not at sea
Compliment cause: small arms fire
Vehicle involved: helicopter
Position in vehicle: pilot
Started Tour: 05/08/1968
"Official" listing: helicopter air casualty - pilot
Length of service: 02
Location: Long An Province III Corps.

Additional information about this casualty:
"1LT Douglas Dale Chaney and SP5 Francis D. Johnson went down, apparently crash-landed, while scouting in Long An Province east of Tan An, near the coast. The crew of another aircraft and I repeatedly tried to land and get them, but we were driven off by small arms fire. Chaney was found dead in the cockpit, probably shot just before or after landing. I clearly saw the other pilot Smith from the C&C Huey outside the ship, behind a rice paddy dike away from the source of ground fire. I thought he would be okay until the infantry reached him a little while later, since we could cover all the open area near him. I was wrong - he had been shot dead when reached, all his .38 pistol ammunition expended. I still don't know how or when he was shot, after their landing. Troop A was under operational control of the 9th Infantry brigade based at Tan An, from which we staged. We flew most ships back to Redcatcher Pad at Long Binh each night." from Charles E. Oualline, 6 December 1993. John Connor believes Smith and Wenban were in a lift platoon C&C that landed to try to help Johnson and Chaney. September 1997.

Reason: aircraft lost or crashed
Casualty type: Hostile - killed
married male U.S. citizen
Race: Caucasian
Religion: Roman Catholic
Burial information: GREEN HILLS MEMORIAL PARK, RANCHO PALOS VERDES, CA
The following information secondary, but may help in explaining this incident.
Category of casualty as defined by the Army: battle dead Category of personnel: active duty Army Military class: officer
This record was last updated on 07/08/2000

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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023